Indian athletes shine at Sollentuna Grand Prix

Stockholm, Jul 9 (UNI) Spearheaded by Sushma Devi, who won silver in the women's 800m, Indian athletes turned in a rich haul of three medals at the Sollentuna Grand Prix 2008 here.

Running behind Sinimole Paulose who was closely following the pacemakers, Sushma zoomed out of the group in the last 50m to finish at the second place with a time of 2:03.82s just outside her personal best ( 2:03.81s).

Sinimole took third place with 2:04.32s.

In the men's 1500m, Chatholi Hamza followed the pacemaker till 1200m but he could not maintain the same pace the till finish.

He finished third with a time of 3:42.73s to register his maiden podium finish in the European circuit while teammate Paritam Bind took 4th place with 3:43.91s.

Rajeev Ramesan once again missed Olympic qualification by whisker in the men's 800m.

He was tied for the 3-4 place with a time of 1:47.12s. He had to finish within 1:47.00s to qualify for Beijing.

Sajeesh Joseph won the men's 800m B race with a timing of 1:50.31s while Ravinder won men's 1500m B race in 3:48.81s.

The Indian athletic team is on a tour of the UK and Europe for the past one month. They will take part in Cork City Sports, a European Grand Prix event in Ireland on July 12 before heading back to India.